Finishing up tunes – a homage to all the grovers…

a while back in our monday night bar, the catalan lad played “alternative ulster” by SLF (stiff little fingers) and it brought me back, back to the time of sweating and moshing at the end of the grove…

The Grove was known as the Northside‘s (of Dublin, Ireland) original alternative disco, because the music being played there was different to anything being played in any discos in Dublin throughout the whole 30 years of its existence. (e.g. Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Jackson Browne, Focus, Deep Purple, Wings, Black Sabbath, Steely Dan, Golden Earring, Queen, The Eagles, ZZ Top, The Boomtown Rats, Supertramp, Guns N’ Roses, Rory Gallagher, Fleetwood Mac, Stiff Little Fingers, Thin Lizzy, Sex Pistols, Horslips, Roxy Music, Joy Division, UFO, Genesis, U2, Bruce Springsteen, The Ramones, Whitesnake, Simple Minds, The Cure, Metallica, The Cult, Neil Young, Nirvana, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, AC/DC, B52s, Pearl Jam, Talking Heads, plus many others).Cecil Nolan was the DJ for the whole 30 years at the Grove until it closed in 1997. Cecil influenced the musical taste of three generations of young northside Dubliners, and shaped their record and CD collections as well. The list of Grove alumni that went on to successful careers on radio and TV is truly impressive, and many of Ireland’s best known media personalities regularly wax lyrical about their time at the Grove and acknowledge the debt they owe Cecil.

Stiff Little Fingers – Alternative Ulster (Rockpalast ’80)

still remember that underage gig when we are all moshing to a punk band covering SLF tunes and i got a head but… blood everywhere… and that was before the grove days…